CLARE SANDS

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9pm // Debarra’s Folk Club // September 16 (ALSO LIVE-STREAMED)

Channeling the music of her ancestors through her deep rooted Irish traditional fiddling and bilingual song, Clare Sands is a unique force in Irish music. A sixth generation fearless feisty fiddler, the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is breaking the boundaries of Irish Music. She makes pulsating Folk music, infused with a myriad of influences from around the world to create an invigorating new sound, for the young and the old, brave and the bold. 

Sands has been wowing audiences around Ireland and further afield with her groundbreaking style, passionate performance, and infinite warrior-like energy. Performing with the likes of Hothouse Flowers, Mick Flannery, Albert Hammond, The Stunning, Susan O’Neill, Jack L, Niamh Regan, Luka Bloom and many more, as well as selling out dates around Ireland as an artist in her own right, this ‘force of natures’ time has come. 

Throughout 2021, Clare has been collaborating with some of Ireland’s finest Folk and Traditional musicians to compose four new songs over the four seasons, inspired by the landscapes and soundscapes of the four provinces. These compositions with Steve Cooney & Tommy Sands, Susan O’Neil, Brídín and Liam Ó Maonlaí will feature on Clare’s highly anticipated self-titled debut album of pulsating Folk, due for release in 2022. Described by Mark Radcliffe on BBC Radio 2 as ‘full of life’ they are a glance into the invigorating new Irish sound to come.

‘AN EMPOWERING, EXCEPTIONAL TALENT, CHANNELING THE MUSIC OF HER ANCESTORS TO CREATE THE SOUND OF A NEW IRELAND’ LYNETTE FAYE, BBC RADIO ULSTER 

‘CLARE CREATES BRAVE MUSIC THAT TAPS DEEP INTO THE WELL OF WHAT WE ARE ABOUT, OF TRADITIONAL MUSIC, AND BRINGS IT RIGHT TO THE PRESENT DAY. A PHENOMENAL MUSICIAN’ FIACHNA Ó BRAONÁIN, RTÉ RADIO 1

‘AN IMPASSIONED VOICES AND MUSICAL GENIUS ON STAGE. A UNIQUE FORCE IN IRISH MUSIC’  HOTPRESS MAGAZINE

 

PRETTY HAPPY

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9pm // DeBarra’s Folk Club // September 17

Pretty Happy are an Art-Punk three-piece from Cork. Drawing on a rebellious tradition of Cork Post-Punk, the band has sculpted their own theatre influenced, all-consuming noise rock sound.

Using a combination of spoken word, raw emotion and a demented punk style the band’s latest releases have garnered attention from the likes of KEXP, BBC 6, BBC Introducing, BBC Ulster (Stephen McCauley’s ‘Street Knowledge’), 2FM (Track of the Week), Newstalk as well as The Irish Examiner, The Sunday Business Post, Hot Press Magazine (A+R Department), Nameless Faceless, Nialler9, Golden Plec, The Last Mixed Tape and Entertainment.ie.

​The members of Pretty Happy, (Abbey Blake, Arann Blake and Andy Killian), are passionate about their local arts scene. Abbey is founder of Angry Mom Collective, a movement set up to battle the gender divide in Irish arts. All members are also keenly involved in drama and film which bleeds through to their eccentric live performances.

With Abbey’s defined pedal driven guitar sound she was announced as an Earthquaker Devices Artist in 2020.

Pretty Happy kick off their Summer with a set recorded in St. Lukes Church (Live at St Luke’s) as part of Cork’s Midsummer Festival. In a special emerging artist event, Abbey is showcasing her work as a film-maker, activist and musician.







 

DANI LARKIN

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6pm // DeBarra’s Folk Club // September 17 (CULTURE NIGHT PERFORMANCE – Free, ticketed, ALSO LIVE-STREAMED)

Hailing from the Armagh-Monaghan border, Dani Larkin is a singer-songwriter and folk musician who is being heralded as one of Ireland’s finest songwriters.

Dani will perform at the CIGF this year as part of Culture Night on September 17, marking another jewel in Dani’s breakthrough year. In 2021 Dani added to line-ups at Folk Alliance International and The Great Escape. June 2021 saw the release of her eagerly awaited debut album, with Hot Press quoting it as “promising to be one of the most exciting contemporary folk albums this year” and The Last Mixed Tape giving it a whopping 9 out of 10!

She’s been artist-in-residence at Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and has shared stages with the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Lisa O’Neill and Wallis Bird. She recently appeared at Ireland Music Week, Other Voices (Belfast and Ballina), Sound of Belfast and Output. 2020 saw her signing a management contract with Jawdropper Music, a worldwide sync deal with Plutonic Group Syncs, and earlier this year signed with leading booking agent Midnight Mango, as well securing the Irish promoter Singular Artists to work on her upcoming Irish album tour.

A storyteller by nature, her music is inspired by the folktales she was raised with, intertwined with elements of traditional melodies and rhythms from around the world in a timeless tradition. 

‘A powerfully arresting sound…‘ Ruth Smith RTÉ Radio One

‘Steadily emerging as a rising star on the Irish contemporary and alt folk scene.’ The Irish Times

‘Wowing audiences with virtuoso guitar playing and highly individualistic self- penned songs’. Songlines Magazine







 

WINDINGS

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Windings are a 5-piece rock/alt/pop/indie/folk band from Limerick City, Ireland. Over the past few years, windings have had the pleasure of sharing stages, supporting, and touring with the likes of Daniel Johnston, Smog/Bill Callahan, Bob Mould, Okkervil River, Caribou, Iron And Wine, Villagers, Teenage Fanclub, Kurt Vile, and Modest Mouse, amongst others. They have performed at festivals such as Electric Picnic and Forbidden Fruit (Irl), CMJ (New York), CMW (Toronto).

2012 brought the band to Canada to play at Canadian Music Week, Toronto, for the second year running. After a successful run of shows at the festival, they continued north to Hotel2Tango Studios in Montreal where they recorded side One of their 3rd, and most recent, album, entitled ‘I Am Not the Crow’ with Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Silver Mt Zion). Side Two was completed on their return to Ireland, with the expertise of Tommy McLaughlin (Villagers) at Attica Audio, Donegal.

Released (on Limited Edition Picture Vinyl and Digital Download) in October 2012 on Out On A Limb Records, I Am Not The Crow has been lauded by critics both nationally and internationally as one of the top Irish albums of that year, with its lead single ‘This Is A Conversation’ achieving considerable airplay on it’s release.

However, the most exciting part was yet to come when I Am Not The Crow was nominated for the Choice Music Award, the most prestigious Musical Prize in Ireland.







 

NAIVE TED

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10:15pm // DeBarra’s Folk Club // September 17 + 18

Naive Ted VS Fixity // 9pm // DeBarra’s Folk Club // September 19

Naive Ted hates PR. Hates it. Predictably, as a mute, he’d rather let the music speak for itself. But sure he has new music to promote and it’s fairly likely that you haven’t heard his music cos he’s not that popular so allow us to fill in the gaps for you….

Weighing in around 6 bags of sugar, from Páirteanna Anaithnaid, Co. Ciarraí, the masked Ted cuts a pretty singular figure on the Irish alternative music circuit. However, this writhing skeletal frame does not claim to be a musician, indeed you’d be hard pushed to even call it music sometimes (we file it under ‘hip-hop’ but most of those rap cats want nothing to do with it). Where the machine is man, and man is on the cusp of a nervous breakdown, Ted’s hands control time via a pair of turntables, creating an unpredictable and unrepeatable narrative, shifting then to now, remembering the future and re-imagining the past.
Ted’s abrasive, angular take on beat-oriented music meets at the margins of myriad styles but is never wilfully eclectic, always following a logical sonic line (that admittedly may only be audible to himself). Boom-bap headnod & feedback-drenched headwreck. Ambivalent ambience & shrill shoegaze. Afro-jazz meltdowns & poised krautrockers. Maximalist haikus and minimal epics. Or as he might put it himself – ‘caressed in a chokehold’.
Some people thought his 2015 album ‘The inevitable heel turn’ was deadly (“…the whole thing is an alternative audio riot.” Album of the week, Irish Times, July 2015).
The gigs to promote that record went pretty well too and 2015 wrappeded up with a triumphant support tour for longtime heroes giveamanakick on their final, emotional jaunt round the country.
It has to be said though, Ted doesn’t get out much, preferring to spend his free time producing music for (amongst others) windings, Same D4ence, Post-Punk Podge, Murli, Spekulativ Fiktion and running the Unscene Music ‘not really a record label’ record label.
He was commissioned to provide music for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Bullet Club faction (seeing his music played in Tokyo Dome in front of 45,000 Japanese wrestling fans literally reduced our Ted to tears) and provided much of the soundtrack for BBC Two’s ‘Smack Em Up’ documentary in 2015. He’s also remixed or collaborated with Lankum (formerly Lynched), Murli & God Knows (Rusangano Family), SertOne, Nanu Nanu, Morning Veils, Clerk5 and Ceara Conway.
And that’s just the recent stuff… dig a little deeper and you’ll find a man at the centre of Ireland’s first turntable band (Vince Mack Mahon), a founder & organiser of one of Ireland’s longest running free festivals (Community Skratch Games) and an alt-rap pioneer through his work with the cultish Flying Buttresses.
So, there’s more but if all that doesn’t make you want to see him play some music then you should go somewhere else on the night in question.
If you wanna see for yourself before making any snap decisions based on some anonymous blurb you just read on the internet/in your local paper then you should check out the following links….



 




 

 

JIM MURRAY & SÉAMUS BEGLEY

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6:30pm & 9pm // DeBarras Folk Club // September 14
(9pm show ALSO LIVE-STREAMED)
“Free wheeling, free spirited and powered by an appetite for traditional music’s outer reaches” Séamus Begley & Jim Murray are among the most dynamic duos in Irish Traditional Music.
Jim Murray is one of Ireland’s finest guitarists and his formidable reputation has been established as a player of traditional music – both as a melody player and as an accompanist. Throughout his childhood, Jim who hails from Macroom in West Cork performed with various groups including his father’s celidh band. In his late teens he formed a group with fellow local musicians which quickly lead him to be invited to play professionally with many of Ireland’s renowned artists. Over the last decade, Jim has combined a wide range of music and influences to create a unique and exciting modern sound in guitar accompaniment bringing it to the ‘now’. Jim plays regularly as a member of Sharon Shannon’s band and has also toured and recorded with Altan, Mary Black, Sinead O’Connor, Steve Earle, Donal Lunny and many other musicians.

Accordion player and singer Séamus Begley is one of the most popular Irish traditional musicians, coming as he does from one of the most musically acclaimed Irish families. He is the quintessential Irish musician, an eager storyteller known for his sharp wit and famous for pumping out tune after tune at all night sessions. He plays with an energy that is alarming, bringing a frisky spontaneity to his box-playing, belting out jigs, slides and polkas with rapid sprays of reckless ornamentation before making a sudden key change into a bitter-sweet air, sung or played on the accordion.




His repertoire reflects his own place and his style of playing is much influenced by a now gone generation of accordion and fiddle players who came to céilí in his family home. Seamus’s style is unique and he is considered by many to be one of the finest players of the dance music of West Kerry and is never happier than when people are dancing to his music. Séamus divides his time between his small holding in the West Kerry Gaeltacht and travelling Ireland and the world playing music. He has toured extensively with Jim Murray, Altan, Steve Cooney and Mary Black to name but a few.

In 2001 Séamus and Jim released their first album, the highly acclaimed ‘Ragairne’ which was winner of the 2001 Hot Press Magazine ‘Folk and Trad Album of the Year’ and The Irish Times ‘Traditional album of the Year’. Their highly anticipated second album, Eiri Go La was released in Early 2009 and has received rave reviews to date.

 

The Céilí Allstars

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The Céilí Allstars are an exciting four piece traditional Irish music band.
They formed from a group of friends playing the session trail in Cork city in the late nineties. Their musical style includes shades of Sliabh Luachra – where they originate from – combined with generous sprinklings of folk and country.

They’ve played residencies in Cork’s legendary folk venues the Lobby Bar, Cork and DeBarra’s in Clonakilty. They’re also at home on bigger stages playing at festivals in Ireland, Holland, Italy, Russia and Australia.




 




The Church

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The Church, led by electric guitar high priest Matt Churchill is an instrumental, brain exploding, wig out machine that comprises some of the finest session musicians in the country, every lick, chop and lead that Churchill unleashes causes synaptic explosions in the central nervous system!

Their shows are a rare event making their annual Clonakilty International Guitar Festival not only one of the highlights of the festival but a highlight of the YEAR!

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